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This is Karen Schnell [KS], I'm interviewing Mrs. Ella VanDyke Tuthill [ET], Class of 1932, and the date is the 2nd of March 1989.
KS: Mrs. Tuthill, just for starters, how did you learn about Skidmore and why did you ao there?
ET: You don't want that story.
KS: No? Yes, I really do.
ET: I'm not sure...If you don't tell anybody, I'll tell you. It was 1928. I was graduated from high school. I had applied at Mount Holyoke, I was going to major in what they call the hard sciences: mathematics, physics, chemistry. Okay, Mount Holyoke. I got 93 [?] on the New York State Regents in Latin so I repeated Latin, repeated Caesar and got 63 the second time around on Caesar. I got a letter from Mount Holyoke in the middle of August 1928 saying, "Your Latin mark needs to improve, we cannot accept you at Mount Holyoke. If you would like to go to a certain school and brush up on your Latin, we'd be glad to consider you next year." Okay, the heck with 'em- I mean, I'd done it twice [laughs]. Why should I go to a finishing school and try again? So I called my father and my mother and I went over and had lunch with him in Albany. And Dad said, "What would you like to do now?" And I said, "I want to go to Skidmore." So we drove to Skidmore that afternoon. And Anna Luddington Hobbes was Admissions, she had one secretary. She was the only one in Admissions. And her yes or no was all that was needed at the time. She could say yes, she could say no. So she asked me what classes I'd taken and what marks. I'd always gotten terribly high marks in math, physics, chemistry. And she said, "We can accept you. We'll forget all about the Latin. You have enough subjects so we won't need Latin. We don't require Latin, so you are accepted." And she said, "What would you like to major in?" And I said, "Art," which surprised my father because he was an electrical engineer and the math, chemistry, physics was his interest too. On the way home in the car Dad said, "Why did you choose Skidmore?" And I said, "Because Skidmore is for dumb girls and I'm dumb." And he said, "But why did you choose art?" I said, "Because dumb girls like art and I'm dumb." That is why I went to Skidmore. Isn't that the horrible truth?
KS: Oh, that's so sad.
ET: But wasn't it good that I did?
KS: You enjoyed it?
ET: Wasn't that nice that I did? The way that it's turned out some 50, what is it-60, 61 years ago. My whole life would have been so different. If I hadn't gone to Skidmore, if I hadn't majored in art, I would have had a different life; probably just as interesting, but it would have been so, so different. With a major in chemistry or physics or math, who knows what I would have been doing now. I certainly wouldn't be organizing an exhibit for Skidmore every 2 or 3 years.
KS: Did Skidmore change your opinion of you being "dumb”?
ET: No, it was-I had a hard time. College was not easy. It wasn't just that. I worked hard. I was what was known in those days as a "greasy grind." I was, I worked very, very hard. I think certain subjects were quite difficult. But I was graduated, not top honors but with honors. I mean, the last 2 years I studied my head off. But it was an effort, it wasn't as easy as it could've been. But, well yeah, maybe I lost the idea that I was dumb. I got a certain amount of confidence back knowing that I could do it if I worked hard enough. But I certainly have never taken Latin again. That is out [laughs].
KS: Did you really miss it?
ET: Not at all [laughs]! I don't know what I would've done now if I had taken Latin, maybe I could've spelled better than I do now. I don't know whether...

Ella Van Dyke Tuthill, class of 1932, was an artist, teacher and member of the Board of Trustees from 1949-1952 and vice president of the Alumni Association from 1946-48. She left Skidmore its largest-ever bequest at the time when she died in 1990.

This is Karen Schnell [KS], I'm interviewing Mrs. Ella VanDyke Tuthill [ET], Class of 1932, and the date is the 2nd of March 1989.
KS: Mrs. Tuthill, just for starters, how did you learn about Skidmore and why did you ao there?
ET: You don't want that story.
KS: No? Yes, I really do.
ET: I'm not sure...If you don't tell anybody, I'll tell you. It was 1928. I was graduated from high school. I had applied at Mount Holyoke, I was going to major in what they call the hard sciences: mathematics, physics, chemistry. Okay, Mount Holyoke. I got 93 [?] on the New York State Regents in Latin so I repeated Latin, repeated Caesar and got 63 the second time around on Caesar. I got a letter from Mount Holyoke in the middle of August 1928 saying, "Your Latin mark needs to improve, we cannot accept you at Mount Holyoke. If you would like to go to a certain school and brush up on your Latin, we'd be glad to consider you next year." Okay, the heck with 'em- I mean, I'd done it twice [laughs]. Why should I go to a finishing school and try again? So I called my father and my mother and I went over and had lunch with him in Albany. And Dad said, "What would you like to do now?" And I said, "I want to go to Skidmore." So we drove to Skidmore that afternoon. And Anna Luddington Hobbes was Admissions, she had one secretary. She was the only one in Admissions. And her yes or no was all that was needed at the time. She could say yes, she could say no. So she asked me what classes I'd taken and what marks. I'd always gotten terribly high marks in math, physics, chemistry. And she said, "We can accept you. We'll forget all about the Latin. You have enough subjects so we won't need Latin. We don't require Latin, so you are accepted." And she said, "What would you like to major in?" And I said, "Art," which surprised my father because he was an electrical engineer and the math, chemistry, physics was his interest too. On the way home in the car Dad said, "Why did you choose Skidmore?" And I said, "Because Skidmore is for dumb girls and I'm dumb." And he said, "But why did you choose art?" I said, "Because dumb girls like art and I'm dumb." That is why I went to Skidmore. Isn't that the horrible truth?
KS: Oh, that's so sad.
ET: But wasn't it good that I did?
KS: You enjoyed it?
ET: Wasn't that nice that I did? The way that it's turned out some 50, what is it-60, 61 years ago. My whole life would have been so different. If I hadn't gone to Skidmore, if I hadn't majored in art, I would have had a different life; probably just as interesting, but it would have been so, so different. With a major in chemistry or physics or math, who knows what I would have been doing now. I certainly wouldn't be organizing an exhibit for Skidmore every 2 or 3 years.
KS: Did Skidmore change your opinion of you being "dumb”?
ET: No, it was-I had a hard time. College was not easy. It wasn't just that. I worked hard. I was what was known in those days as a "greasy grind." I was, I worked very, very hard. I think certain subjects were quite difficult. But I was graduated, not top honors but with honors. I mean, the last 2 years I studied my head off. But it was an effort, it wasn't as easy as it could've been. But, well yeah, maybe I lost the idea that I was dumb. I got a certain amount of confidence back knowing that I could do it if I worked hard enough. But I certainly have never taken Latin again. That is out [laughs].
KS: Did you really miss it?
ET: Not at all [laughs]! I don't know what I would've done now if I had taken Latin, maybe I could've spelled better than I do now. I don't know whether...